James Wise - Naval Institute Press Author of the Year, Third Prize

"Exciting evidence that the acting profession is best practiced by those who have known firsthand the extremes of life's experiences." —Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Most moviegoers remember the classic Navy roles played by Paul Newman, Henry Fonda, Glenn Ford, Humphrey Bogart, Robert Montgomery, and Ernest Borgnine, but not many know that Fonda and Montgomery won Bronze Stars for their real heroic deeds, or that Borgnine hunted U-boats off the East Coast.

This book offers fascinating details about the lives of more than fifty movie stars who served in the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard from World War I to Vietnam. Drawn variously from interviews, letters, and archives, this virtual Who's Who of Navy stars brims with interesting anecdotes and some never-before-published photographs from the stars' military careers.

Readers learn how Eddie Albert saved more than a dozen wounded Marines on the bloody reefs of Tarawa, and ace pilot Wayne Morris downed seven Japanese planes in his Hellcat. UDT frogman Aldo Ray reconned the Okinawa landing beaches; John Howard was awarded the Navy Cross. Entertaining as well as historically accurate, these revealing profiles provide hours of enjoyment as readers discover some of the patriotic contributions and sacrifices that actors have made.

James E. Wise Jr., a retired naval aviator and intelligence officer, is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including The Navy Cross, Shooting the War, and James Arness: An Autobiography.

Anne Collier Rehill, who also coauthored Stars in the Corps with Wise, has published numerous articles and essays and taught English and French. She now works as a freelance writer and editor.